Gripping utensils such as tongs, tweezers, pliers and the like have two relatively long fingers that are capable of closing around a common plane to grasp an object. They are generally used to avoid hand contact with that object, for example, to avoid contamination either of the object or of the hands, or because the object is messy, wet, sticky, or uncomfortably hot. In some cases, especially with tweezers and pliers, the utensils may also allow the object to be grabbed with far more pressure than bare hands would allow. In other cases tongs may also be designed to moderate pressure applied to the object to be gripped. This is useful if the object to be gripped is easily damaged. Articles of food, for example, may be readily marred or broken if high pressure is applied when gripped.